High Court affirms gun rights in historic decision

Friday

Jun 27, 2008 at 12:01 AMJun 27, 2008 at 10:07 AM

WASHINGTON | Silent on central questions of gun control for two centuries, the Supreme Court found its voice Thursday in a decision affirming the right to have guns for self-defense in the home and addressing a constitutional riddle almost as old as the republic over what it means to say the people may keep and bear arms.

By MARK SHERMAN

By MARK SHERMAN
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON | Silent on central questions of gun control for two centuries, the Supreme Court found its voice Thursday in a decision affirming the right to have guns for self-defense in the home and addressing a constitutional riddle almost as old as the republic over what it means to say the people may keep and bear arms.
The court’s 5-4 ruling struck down the District of Columbia’s ban on handguns and imperiled similar prohibitions in other cities, Chicago and San Francisco among them. Federal gun restrictions, however, were expected to remain largely intact.
The court’s historic awakening on the meaning of the Second Amendment brought a mixed response, muted in some unexpected places.
The reaction broke less along party lines than along the divide between cities wracked with gun violence and rural areas where gun ownership is embedded in daily life. Democrats have all but abandoned their long push for stricter gun laws at the national level. Republicans welcomed what they called a powerful precedent.
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, straddling both sides of the issue, said the ruling “will provide much-needed guidance to local jurisdictions across the country.”
Republican presidential candidate John McCain welcomed the ruling as “a landmark victory for Second Amendment freedom.”